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HHP: Six Man Rotation

Could the Orioles attempt a six man rotation in 2012?

Should they?

Things to consider:

Orioles have a good number of starting pitchers.
Do not have any top tier starting pitchers.
Do not have any innings eaters. (Guthrie kinda sorta)
Do have two pitchers accustomed to a 6 man rotation (Chen and Wada)

Look at this data: (don't know why there is a big space)

Player

Max IP

Career ERA+

Guthrie

209

105

Britton

154

90

Arrieta

150 (miL)

85

Matusz

175

77 (98 before 2011)

Simon

115

81

Hunter

128 (163 miL 08)

99

Bergesen

170

92

Tillman

174 (BAL+miL)

77

Wada

184

2.88 (ERA)

Chen

188

2.48 (ERA)

There are 10 starting pitchers. Only 1 (Guthrie) has ever thrown 200 IP in a season. I may have missed if someone threw 200 combined MiL and ML, but still, only 1 has thrown 200+ in the ML.

The two Japanese pitchers top out in the mid 180 IP several times in there careers. They are accustomed to throwing in a 6 man rotation.

Is it wise to attempt to use these 10 pitchers in a 5 man rotation for 162 game season? They (not Chen or Wada) have been in such a system before with poor results. Chen and Wada have succeed in a 6 man rotation throwing 180 innings.Why repeat what has not worked.

Using 6 of these 10 as starters, keeps 4 available in the bullpen or Norfolk to fill in. So there is plenty of depth (not even considering O'Day and Eveland who are really last ditch depth).

Here is a comparison. The Rays had a top notch pitching staff in 2011. All but 14 games were started by there top 5 SP's. That is amazing! Here is how the IP broke down:

My argument is they have 6-8 mediocre starters, so lets run with that instead of hoping 3 of them magically turn into good starters.

Let's go with the best 5. The rest can either fight for time in the bullpen or get innings in AAA. I don't think 3 of them will magically turn into good starters, but I don't see what's gained by increasing the percentage of games started by guys who aren't any good.

I'm not really in favor of the idea but I did think of a little wrinkle... We could have Guthrie pitch every 5th day. Then the other five guys pitch in order. Get Guts his 200 and 35 starts. Fill the rest of the 1000 innings with the other five guys.

I'm not really in favor of the idea but I did think of a little wrinkle... We could have Guthrie pitch every 5th day. Then the other five guys pitch in order. Get Guts his 200 and 35 starts. Fill the rest of the 1000 innings with the other five guys.

No way will we go with a 6 man rotation. I kinda like us with a 4 man rotation gives an extra arm in the pen and more than likely somone who could spot start when needed to give the starters a rest here and there.

I've always been intrigued with the idea of keeping appearances up, but pitch counts down. What if you took eight from your list and paired them up (however you like) and tell them they each get 80 pitches per appearance, and they're pitching in a four-tandem rotation. And you still have a four-man bullpen for specialty situations. Crazy?

I'm not sure it's a good idea, but why not? Is it a thing with throwing pitchers off with the number of rest days? Something I'm not getting?

Why not indeed! The Japanese do it, why haven't they gone to a 5 man rotation? There must be a reason why they still do it. As bad as our pitching was last year, isn't it time for some "out of the box" thinking.